Looking at the downsides of Drip Coffee Makers and finding them to be many, I had finally had enough of them. The machines that just quit, right in the middle of brewing a pot of coffee, while company, who has come over for a cup, sits waiting for the coffee that will never appear. Or the coffee makers that do not make the coffee hot enough, so one brews a pot, pours a cup, and then proceeds to the microwave to warm it up. The coffee just doesn’t get to the great taste one would expect. It always tastes a little watery, cold, weak, or just not very good. I haven’t even mentioned the broken and the cracked carafes yet.
How does one make a glass coffee carafe husband proof? For some reason the laws of expansion and contraction elude my lovely husband Helping out, doing the dishes, wanting to get it all done, puts a hot glass carafe in the considerably cooler water and sure enough, the carafe cracks, surprising him of course. Trying not to waste, and having finally found a coffee maker that at least does a passable job, we order a replacement carafe: cost $60.
This carafe lasts a while, until one day, I am going to make a pot of coffee and behold, another crack running along the bottom. My husband stands blinking with the, “I didn’t do it” look. He later admitted that he just tapped the side of the carafe on a ceramic bowl in the dish tray, and once again, was very surprised that it cracked.
At this point I am no longer willing to spend another $60 to special order the carafe, but there are universal carafes available. We end up trying two of them. One carafe does not fit at all (I had actually grabbed the wrong one), one almost fits, but alas, the coffee is cold and watery. ‘Almost Fits’ is just as bad as ‘Wrong One’ for coffee maker carafes.
I start to consider all the coffee makers of days past. I consider the interesting info about plastics leaching toxins when heated and it occurs to me that I am done with Drip Coffee Makers. I do not need to be poisoning myself while having a bad cup of coffee. I do not need to be spending ridiculous amounts of money replacing the machines and the carafes on fairly regular schedules. I was looking for something that made a great cup of coffee, would not break down, and was husband proof.
Stainless steel appeared to be the answer. I had already switched to a stainless steal stovetop kettle after the last time my son fried the cord on my electric one. Just need to clean it with vinegar every 6 months to a year, give it a wipe once in a while, and that’s it. Love, love, love my stove top, stainless steel kettle! So the question was, how do I find the same thing for coffee? Happily, I found a stainless steel stovetop, 12 cup, percolator at my local hardware store. Both the jug and inner working are stainless steel, stronger and definitely less fragile than the aluminum ones. It looks great. It took brewing 3 pots to come up with a killer combination and timing to perfectly fit my taste. Did not take any longer than a drip machine. The entire setup cost me less than $45, made a fantastic pot of coffee and I will not have to replace the equipment again. It is sturdy and husband proof. It is the most Eco Friendly and pocket book friendly option I could find. I do love the win, wins when I find them. Newer is not always better, and this is definitely the case for the New Drip vs. the Old Percolator Style Coffee Makers. The stove top Percolator wins hands down!
Tracey
